Remember the purity in the sound when you first put the needle on that old blackened thrash vinyl. Well, it’s back but in digital and CD form. Today’s offering is the new mini-album from Swedish black metal monsters WAN, Gammal är äldst.

From Bandcamp: “Anyone au fait with the ‘80s and early ‘90s Scandinavian black metal knows what the five tracks of this EP convey. Indeed, they conjure nothing but relentless slabs of caustic riffs, maliciously intended raucous snarls and holocaustic drum-assaults”

Gammal är äldst provides a solid 5 tracks and proves to be quite the addictive listen bringing to the forefront memories of old 90s thrash and black metal bands from Metallica to Darkthrone. The mix is raw, unpolished and lends itself to the purity of the old vinyl sounds from back in the day.

Starting off is the blistering, relentless title track full of speed and old-school mayhem and breaks that are reminiscent of Blaze in the Northern Sky-era Darkthrone. That black metal vibe continues with “Out Of Your League” in a mid-tempo track and gang background vocals.

“Fistful of Metal” is an obvious ode to thrash bands of days past. One can imagine dropping the needle on track 1 of the vinyl that they were lucky enough to find like a treasure in the record store bin. “Strong As a Bear” is similar in speed to track 2 with its mid-tempo verses interrupted by blast beats and furious tremolo guitar.

The final track “Till maskarna slang” again alternates between mid-tempo, sheer fury and 90s/2000s guitar nuances.

A great release indeed for fans of good Swedish black metal and those who love to relive the raw black/thrash metal sound of the 90s. Available on Carnal Records now.